NAMI FaithNet Newsletter: September 29, 2006

Mental Illness Awareness Week and Beyond

Mental Illness Awareness Week kicks off Sunday, October 1. Local NAMI organizations from coast-to-coast, along with other concerned groups, will be engaging the faith community through prayer services and vigils, and educational and awareness-building events.

In addition, one protestant denomination is calling on all of its churches to sponsor a Candle Lighting for Mental Illness in October. And at the end of the month, California hosts a major conference on spirituality and mental health. Learn more about all these activities.

Copies of Journal Available

Several years ago,The Journal, a publication of NAMI California, devoted an issue to spirituality and mental illness. The issue featured 29 articles and essays on the topic.

FaithNet founder Gunnar Christiansen has obtained a large quantity of this issue and is making them available for free to the FaithNet community, noting that he considers the articles to be timeless. Orders can be placed in the NAMI Store, while supplies last.

Journalist Seeking Stories

Christopher D. Ringwald, is a journalist who has written on mental health and other issues for 20 years. His previous book,The Soul of Recovery(Oxford, 2002), examined the role of spirituality in addictions treatment.

He is currently working on a project on the spiritual lives of people with mental illness.

He is seeking people willing to be interviewed at length on their spiritual beliefs, practices and experiences. At this point in the project, he is most interested in hearing from members of racial or ethnic minority groups (African-Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, etc.)

The interviews may be taped and the material may be published in the book and/or articles. This work is unfunded, so there are no stipends or compensation available.

If you are interested, contact Ringwald using the information below. Please provide your name, telephone number, email and street addresses. The deadline is October 15.